The present invention relates to transition metal complexes and the use thereof as catalysts. More particularly, the present invention relates to transition metal catalysts containing phosphine or amine-type ligands and the use thereof in catalytic reactions, such as hydroformylation and combined hydroformylation/aldolization reactions.
Transition metal complexes of both triphenyl phosphine and trialkyl phosphines have been widely studied as catalysts for hydroformylation, hydrogenation, etc. For their application in reactions of carbon monoxide, particularly carbonylations, see the monograph of Juergen Falbe, "Carbon Monoxide in Organic Synthesis," Springer Verlag, New York, 1970. In the area of rhodium catalyzed hydroformylations of alpha-olefins, homogeneous catalyst systems and employing triaryl phosphine and other trivalent phosphorus compounds in complex with rhodium plus excess phosphine ligand were described by R. L. Pruett and J. A. Smith in U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,809.
Certain transition metal complexes containing phosphines covalently anchored to polymeric substrates have also been disclosed as heterogeneous catalysts. Such polymer anchored complexes were reviewed by C. C. Leznoff in Volume 3, pages 65 to 85 of the Chemical Society Review in 1974. The polymer anchored rhodium hydroformylation catalysts were also discussed in detail in the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, Vol. 134, pages 85 to 94 in 1977 by W. H. Lang, A. T. Jurewicz, W. O. Haag, D. D. Whitehurst and L. D. Rollmann. Other complexes covalently anchored to inorganic solids such as silica were disclosed in a number of U.S. patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,809 by K. G. Allum, S. McKenzie and R. C. Pitkethyl and U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,114 by A. A. Oswald and L. L. Murrell.
Still other patents have described bis-phosphine compounds as complexes for Rh. For example, Booth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,965,192 and 3,560,539 discloses ethylene bis-(diphenylphosphine) as a ligand for rhodium complexes.
In addition, layered tetraalkyl phosphonium clays were disclosed in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,929,849 and 4,053,493. In the second of these patents, diphenylphosphinodecyl is mentioned as a possible substituent for the phosphonium clays. However, there is no disclosure or suggestion in these patents of transition metal complexes of such phosphonium clay materials.